The assessment of the halo-effect in a questionnaire rating dimensions of coaches’ competence

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe halo-effect describes the phenomenon that an individual’s general impression of a person influences how other attributes of the same person are evaluated. This phenomenon might be reflected in the finding that in a questionnaire assessing different competence dimensions of coaches, a bi-factor model (i.e., including an additional global factor besides the three competence dimensions) showed the best model fit (Strauch et al. [2023]. Erfassung der Handlungskompetenzen von Übungsleitenden. Entwicklung und Analyse der Reliabilität und Validität eines Fragebogens [Assessment of the competencies of coaches. Development and analysis of the reliability and validity of a questionnaire]. Zeitschrift für Sportpsychologie. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1026/1612-5010/a000376). Based on the stereotype content model, the purpose of the present study was to assess whether the two universal dimensions warmth and general competence may explain a significant part of this additional global factor. To this end, 222 participants (72 female; Mage = 27.38) took part in this cross-sectional study. They completed a coach competence questionnaire with the three subscales motivational, adaptive, and organisational competence. Moreover, they completed the two subscales affect and professional respect of the Leader-Member Exchange Scale to measure the universal dimensions of warmth and general competence. The results showed that a bi-factor model had the best model fit compared to (a) when the items loaded only on their corresponding factor, and (b) when all items loaded only on a global factor. Moreover, the results showed that warmth and general competence could explain more than half of the variance in this additional global factor. In summary, the results support the existence of an underlying global factor in questionnaires assessing specific dimensions of coaches’ competence, with also providing preliminary evidence that the two universal dimensions, warmth and general competence, can partly explain this factor.